Musing, rants and flim-flammery

Category Archives: Motoring

We have had a few electrical issues with our car, a Citroen C5 Tourer.
For some reason or another the car battery loses charge whenever the weather is damp or cold.
We have had an auto electrician check-out the car, but with no luck. He couldn’t find any specific faults related to the cars electrics.
During the most recent cold snap I’ve had to bump-start the car on several occasions. Not an amusing prospect when the roads are icy.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, when I was in Lidl in Peterlee I saw the Ultimate Speed – ULGD 3.8 A1 Charger 12V/6V for sale, and decided to buy it. It cost £13.99. Into my shopping basket it went.
It is super easy to use, and an overnight charge saw the car battery back to full health.
It’s been a good few weeks now since I used the battery charger to fully charge my car battery, and so far it has held its charge.
I haven’t had to do any bump-starts, even when the weather has been well below freezing.
I’m glad I bought the Ultimate Speed – ULGD 3.8 A1 Charger 12V/6V, it’s definitely saved me having to buy a brand new car battery. Thanks Lidl!

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On Sunday we decided to head just up the road to the Vintage Fair being held at Plants R Ross Garden Centre.
But before I write about the fun of the fair, first the weather, well, I’m British – it’s a top topic. It was a bit hit and miss, whether we would go or not. The skies were very grey all morning, and there were a few spots of rain about an hour before we had planned to leave from home in Easington Colliery.
The sky was still a steely grey when Laura, Barley the Lurcher and I bundled into the car, but it was at least dry. A few minutes later we arrived at Plants R Ross, handed over a £1 each (Barley was excluded from the entrance fee because he is under 16 years of age) and we parked up.
Given the weather, it was a nice surprise how many over folk had risked a possible drenching. Even more people arrived during the 90 minutes we spent there. In fact it was positively crowded when we departed for Easington Collieryand lunch.At Midday ‘the beefy la slap trio’, a Rockabilly trio, burst into life and knocked out some good tunes. Barley the Lurcher enjoyed the music greatly, and so did we. That’s not sarcasm, or an attempt at humour, Barley really like live music.Lickety Split had there ice-cream van at the Vintage Fair. Normally we spot the van parked outside their shop in Seaham. They seemed to be doing a good trade, even though the weather was far from perfect ice-cream weather.
Laura said she was trying to make herself fancy an ice-cream, but it wasn’t working, she just wasn’t in the mood, which was a shame because Lickety Split ice-cream is very good.
So, not being in the mood for an ice-cream, we opted instead for a beer.
A bottle of APA from Allendale Brew Company, for £3. A nice hoppy beer, it’s just a shame it was served a tad warm. Still we did managed to drink it to the bottom of the bottle. Waste not, want not. 😀

The market stalls were selling a variety of goods; vinyl, 1950’s/retro products, such as clothes, handbags, jewellery, artwork, and there was a pop-up barbers for your ‘short back ‘n sides’ and a professional hair stylist giving make-overs for hair and make-up in the rocker-billy, 1950’s style.

We enjoyed wandering round looking at the stalls, but not being in a retail therapy mood for what was for sale on the market stalls, we had a gander at the classic cars that were on show. If the sun had been shining, the cars would have looked even better.

There were lots of people wearing traditional rocker-billy fashions, and I felt comfortable in my dark wash jeans, and black leather jacket, but Laura said she wished she hadn’t have worn her anorak. 😉
We’re glad we went along, and it’s something to consider for next year – but it is a long way to come back from Monaco.

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The Citroen C5 needed new tyres, so after careful research I decided to put 4 new ContiEcoContact 5 on it. I used the Asda tyre service to find a local tyre fitter and I then picked Shotton Tyres (Unit 1, Front Street Industrial Estate, Shotton Colliery, DH6 2ND). I came away with 4 new tyres and £625 poorer. The only problem is the fact that Shotton Tyres made clean patches on the alloys, so now I’m going to have to wash the entire car. 😀